Path remains open for Vladdy to stay, despite lack of deal
Keegan Matheson
@KeeganMathesonDUNEDIN, Fla. -- The Blue Jays keep reaching for their next great hope, but hope is a dangerous thing.
In the past two years alone, it¡¯s been Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto or Roki Sasaki, each failed pursuit bringing its own flavor of cruelty. Losing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. would make all of those look small, though.
While a fanbase has fallen in love with the ideas of those players, they¡¯ve fallen in love with the reality of Vladdy. Guerrero is brilliantly talented. His game is a celebration of itself, spilling out of a true showman. All of this from a young star who not only loves Toronto, but wants to love it for the rest of his career. A loss like that wouldn¡¯t just break hearts, it would burn those hearts to the ground.
Tuesday morning in Dunedin wasn¡¯t goodbye, but Vladdy is standing at the door with his boots and jacket on. It¡¯s a door he still doesn¡¯t want to walk through.
¡°I want to be here. I want to be a Blue Jay for the rest of my career,¡± Guerrero said through a club interpreter, reiterating what he¡¯s said for years. ¡°But it¡¯s free agency and it¡¯s business. I¡¯m going to have to listen to 29 other teams.¡±
If there¡¯s any hope left, then -- and there has to be for a player as beloved as Guerrero -- that needs to live in free agency. The Blue Jays¡¯ next great hope, as sudden and strange as it might be, is Aaron Judge.
Entering 2022, Judge turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million extension from the Yankees entering his final year of club control, which brought a crush of media attention onto one of New York¡¯s biggest stars.
Judge responded by hitting 62 home runs, posting a 1.111 OPS and winning the AL MVP Award. It was the ultimate ¡°walk year,¡± but when Judge entered free agency, the Yankees remained engaged and aggressive. Judge wasn¡¯t just a good baseball player, he was the face of their franchise. After Judge felt out free agency and flirted with a pair of West Coast teams in the Giants and Padres, he signed back with the Yankees on a 9-year, $360 million deal.
The big, beloved slugger will be a Yankee for life. This is the only playbook the Blue Jays have left to follow now with Guerrero.
¡°On a personal level, there¡¯s disappointment, because I recognize it¡¯s special when you have a player who was signed, developed, came to the big leagues and played his whole career with one team,¡± said Mark Shapiro. ¡°I think about players like Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett and what it can mean to be a legacy player, a franchise player. That was -- and is -- our hope for Vladdy.¡±
There are plenty of other examples of this, of course, from Aaron Nola to Carlos Correa to J.T. Realmuto to Stephen Strasburg. Free-agent contracts are changing quickly, though, with Ohtani¡¯s and Soto¡¯s deals shooting spending to heights we¡¯ve never seen. If Guerrero pulls a Judge and peaks in his walk year, the Blue Jays are going to be chasing a moving number.
The market can be part of this process, though, even if that¡¯s not what anyone wants to hear today, on Feb. 18. We¡¯re missing two crucial details right now: Guerrero¡¯s number and the Blue Jays¡¯ number. Without those, we don¡¯t know who was being most reasonable or how ¡°close¡± they were. That¡¯s where the market could come in, with bids from other teams helping to frame Guerrero¡¯s value. That could bring the number closer to the Blue Jays or send it flying away from them. We just don¡¯t know yet.
What we do know is that Guerrero wants to be here and the Blue Jays, in their recent pursuits, have shown an ability to spend. Guerrero loves Toronto. Beyond that, he only wants one thing.
¡°Winning team. That¡¯s what I¡¯ll be looking for in free agency,¡± Guerrero said. ¡°As you guys know, my dad played a lot of years. He never won a World Series. My personal goal is to win a World Series and give the ring to my dad. That¡¯s all I¡¯m looking for.¡±
There¡¯s still a way out here, but hope isn¡¯t what Blue Jays fans wanted to be clinging to at this point. It¡¯s a dangerous thing, especially when 29 other teams can start to feel that same hope.